Lake Champlain 6/4—6/5My father, wife, and I all headed up to Lake Champlain this weekend to enjoy some fishing. We had booked the weekend with our friend and guide, Captain Mickey Maynard of
www.lakechamplainangler.com. Saturday and Sunday would be our third and fourth trips with Captain Maynard, who has never failed to show us a great time!
Saturday, June 4, 2011We met Captain Maynard on the outskirts of Plattsburgh early Saturday morning, and decided that we would head to some rock cliffs and target smallmouth bass. I don't want to give away all his secrets, but suffice to say we were ripping lures hard for eight hours and I do think my wrist will take a week or two to recover! The smallmouth ate it up, and the day was a smashinc success with the four of us boating 100 fish, 88 of which were smallmouth bass. My wife, Crystal, (as usual) seemed to have the Midas Touch, landing 48 of them. I had to laugh when she quickly caught her first fish and all Captain Maynard could say was, “Crystal's back!”
The day was filled with good-sized, hard fighting fish such as this one:
We called it a day around half past two, made arrangements to meet up the next morning, and then headed home to our house in a sleepy town on the south end of the lake. Since it was still early, and since I got my butt whooped so badly by Crystal, I decided to take out a few of our heavier rods and toss out some chicken livers. It didn't take long for our company to arrive, as one after the other, three giant (for the area) channel cats tore the line of our reels. I didn't have a scale, but having recently caught an 18lb cat, I can say in good faith that these were easily 20+. At any rate, they put up a tremendous fight, tested the limits of the tackle, and made me wonder why I decided to target these monsters after 8 hours of assaulting my arms and wrists on the charter!
In addition to these three cats, we caught a chunky white perch, and my favorite species, the Bowfin. I was especially excited about the latter as I haven't managed to catch one yet this year on account of the higher water, and feared that my favorite spot might take a year off while they hang out elsewhere. I'm glad to see they're making their way home
The bowfin bite coincided with that of the mosquito, so we quickly packed it in, settled into our bed, and awaited the second half of our charter weekend, but not before we received heartening news: on one of the best fishing days of my life, my good friends had the greatest day of their lives, welcoming their first child onto this earth! Congratulations to the Burris family! Their daughter must be a lucky charm
Sunday, June 5, 2011We woke up (sore and almost second-guessing ourselves haha) early Sunday morning and once again made the trek to Plattsburgh. Drunk with the success of the first day, we decided to switch things up and target largemouths and northern pike on the second. The risen water has made going after these fish a bit more difficult, as much of last year's woods are this year's shallows. This made for a lot of promising cover that we had no hope of reaching. Nonetheless, Champlain is a huge lake, and there were plenty of coves and shoreline for us to work.
Being colder than Saturday, the fishing started a bit slower than the first, but quickly heated up. We weren't as strict with counting (we weren't going to top the 100 fish of Saturday), but a fair estimate is that we put a few more than 50 in the boat, probably about a third of which being black bass, another third being some member of the
Esox family, and the last third being yellow perch or rock bass. Crystal again caught the largest fish:
Everyone got their fill of pike and largemouths, with a few decent smallies thrown in as well. As always, Captain Maynard produced for us, and we had a great trip! If you ever want to experience Lake Champlain in all its glory, I highly recommend giving him a call. He can put you on any sort of fish you'd like, from largemouth to lake trout, at an extremely reasonable rate (last I checked, the lowest in the region, but don't quote me on that).
I do think Lake Champlain ranks right up there with Lake Fork and Okeechobee as one of those places you must fish before you die. The largemouth might not be as huge as those in the south, but there are various species that will give you a great time and you'll do it all surrounded by the natural beauty of the Adirondacks and Green Mountains. It is a breathtaking natural wonder and one I've been privileged to call my second home since I was a very young kid.
I personally think Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks are
the place to be for the Fourth of July. The weather is great, the fishing is great, and you are within a short drive of Saratoga, Ticonderoga, and Plattsburgh – three key locations in the Birth and early years of our our great nation. Not to harp on too much about it, but I love the place and am grateful I've had the opportunity to spend so much time there. I'd love to see you all get that opportunity as well
